Our friends at Oak Meadow Curriculum and School recently asked families how they define “citizenship.” Over 700 varied and thoughtful responses focused on kindness, stewardship, personal responsibility, compassion, and cooperation. Yet, the most often mentioned tenets of good citizenship were recycling and taking care of this Earth that we all share. With that in mind, here’s a practical and charming craft to share with the children in your life (and a great way to corral plastic bags for reuse!). For more ideas and inspiration on how to cultivate citizenship at home, visit Oak Meadow’s recent issue of Living Education.

Tree Saver Plastic Bag Holder

Supplies:

Large empty tissue box

White glue

Twigs

Construction paper

Scissors

Light brown poster paint

Dark brown poster paint or marker

Newspaper to cover your work surface

Instructions:

Take a walk and collect several twigs in assorted lengths. Look for twigs with interesting branching patterns.

Use a darker shade of poster paint or a dark brown marker to draw wavy bark patterns on the tissue box. Let dry.

Draw a bird on a sheet of construction paper. Cut out smaller pieces of brightly colored construction paper and glue them to the bird to make bright feathers, eyes, and a beak.

Stand the tissue box on one end. Arrange the twigs and construction paper bird on the front of the box. Glue in place.

Cut out leaves, butterflies, a bird nest, or anything else you want from construction paper and glue them to the front, sides, and top of the box.

Tack the box in a convenient corner of the kitchen and enjoy it every time you need to grab a plastic bag.

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GIVEAWAY

Oak Meadow Curriculum and School has generously offered a complete homeschooling curriculum package for one grade of your choice (preschool through 8th grade). That’s a value of $120-$420! Simply visit Oak Meadow’s latest issue of Living Education, a quarterly journal that inspires and informs home learning with strategies, tips, and crafts.

Leave a comment here with feedback and/or suggestions for future issues and you’ll automatically be entered in the giveaway! We will pick one lucky Living Crafts winner on Tuesday, September 4th.

464 Responses to “Bag Holder Tutorial and Oak Meadow Giveaway”

I would be so grateful to win a curriculum from Oak Meadows! I would love to see an article on homeschooling and finding personal time to pursue personal development and home based careers. Thanks so much! Jo Ann

It’s really great that Oak Meadow and Living Crafts are working together.
I like the Citizenship theme; it’s nicely developed.
I’d enjoy an article (or an issue) with inspiring ideas for creating wonderful spaces in which to learn, and with homeschool organizational tips to help get our homes sorted.
It would be lovely to win this!

I did not know that there was such a publication. Having used other Waldorf based curriculums, it it useful to see another way to incorporate the lessons into life. I like the ideas of lessons in cooperation with iEARN. I would love to see more in future publications about smoothing out everyday life of a home schooling family as well as ways to help make your home a better environment for teaching.

This is just wonderful. Thank you Oak Meadow for your great and substantive curriculum offerings. The tree saver idea is also very nice and one I want to try. Thank you Living Crafts for this valuable offer.
Nunutsi Otterson

I’m glad to have access to that Oak Meadow Journal – I found the theme of citizenship to be pertinent, especially to our family living in washington dc. The article on kindness was inspiring and I’m excited about incorporating those values into our home learning next month. Perhaps some future issues could address subjects on multi-generational mentorship, creating apprenticeship opportunities, involving the entire family (extended too!) in education, and how to partner with local institutions (museums, etc.) to provide a well-rounded curriculum for children.